Unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Conventional reward systems commonly use, issue, and redeem points, credits, miles, cash back, vouchers, or a comparable self-issued proprietary reward currency that can be exchanged for selected products or services offered within each reward system.
The primary purpose of a reward system is to evoke reward-qualifying behaviors, for example, spending at least a certain amount or using a particular payment card. Value for the reward issuer is generated in the qualifying behavior (spending), not in issuing the reward itself.
One deficiency of such reward systems is that a plurality of unaffiliated reward systems, apparatuses, and reward currencies are not connected or configured for interoperability. Therefore a common currency cannot be processed among disparate unaffiliated reward systems.
Another deficiency is that a person who qualifies in one reward system, for example in a shopping center, cannot redeem earned points in another reward system, such as an airline's. Points cannot be aggregated with points earned in a different reward system to enable a consumer to accumulate points to get a more desirable, valuable, motivating, single reward. Behavior-motivating power is diminished if points cannot be combined, which limits reward choice and yields less marketing effectiveness within each reward system.
Another deficiency is that redemption terms can render earned points within a single reward system of little value to a recipient when points must be earned through considerable spending and redeemed for only a narrow selection of unappealing goods. Such points are widely perceived as unredeemable or not a good deal for a consumer.
Another deficiency is that points in reward or loyalty systems can compel a recipient to return to an issuer for repeat business, intended to entice more spending. Since a consumer can only patronize the same business so often, consumers perceive this as a marketing ploy that has little to do with truly rewarding their spending in the first place.
Multi-provider reward systems often piggyback reward processing onto payment processing systems in the absence of a viable alternative networked electronic solution, not because payment processing itself is required for reward processing.
To address these issues, albeit ineffectively, various schemes exist for point recipients to convert, trade, barter, exchange, or transact points or a reward currency between different rewards or loyalty systems that each issue their own currency. Such exchange schemes can give recipients part of their value, but at a cost, and are cumbersome.
In view of the above, reward systems commonly offer rewards that do not motivate behaviors as effectively as they could, while costing issuers more than they need to. Consumers are less motivated to patronize reward issuers than they would be if better rewards were available using a shared interoperable currency.